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[ Transcriber's Note:
This e book belongs to Tolstoy's Plays (Complete Edition). The
front matter, including the table of contents, can be found in
e book 26660; it lists the other plays in the collection.

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible; changes (corrections of spelling and punctuation) made to
the original text are listed at the end of this file.
]

THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS

DRAMA

CHARACTERS

NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH SARÝNTSOV.

MARY IVÁNOVNA SARÝNTSOVA. His wife.

LYÚBA. Their daughter.

STYÓPA. Their son.

VÁNYA. A younger son.

MISSY. Their daughter.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' LITTLE CHILDREN.

ALEXANDER MIKÁYLOVICH STARKÓVSKY. (Lyúba's betrothed in Act IV).

MITROFÁN ERMÍLYCH. Ványa's tutor.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' GOVERNESS.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA KÓHOVTSEVA. Mary Ivánovna's sister.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH KÓHOVTSEV. Her husband.

LISA. Their daughter.

PRINCESS CHEREMSHÁNOV.

BORÍS. Her son.

TÓNYA. Her daughter.

A YOUNG PRIEST.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' NURSE.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' MEN SERVANTS.

IVÁN ZYÁBREV. A peasant.

A PEASANT WOMAN. His wife.

MALÁSHKA. His daughter (carrying her baby brother).

PETER. A peasant.

A RURAL POLICEMAN.

FATHER GERÁSIM. A priest.

A NOTARY.

A CARPENTER.

A GENERAL.

HIS ADJUTANT.

A COLONEL.

A REGIMENTAL CLERK.

A SENTINEL.

TWO SOLDIERS.

A GENDARME OFFICER.

HIS CLERK.

THE CHAPLAIN OF THE REGIMENT.

THE CHIEF DOCTOR IN A MILITARY ASYLUM.

AN ASSISTANT DOCTOR.

WARDERS.

AN INVALID OFFICER.

PIANIST.

COUNTESS.

ALEXANDER PETRÓVICH.

PEASANT MEN AND WOMEN, STUDENTS, LADIES, DANCING COUPLES.

THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS

ACT I

SCENE 1

The scene represents the verandah of a fine country house, in front
of which a croquet lawn and tennis court are shown, also a
flower bed. The children are playing croquet with their governess.
Mary Ivánovna Sarýntsova, a handsome elegant woman of forty; her
sister, Alexándra Ivánovna Kóhovtseva, a stupid, determined woman of
forty five; and her husband, Peter Semyónovich Kóhovtsef, a fat
flabby man, dressed in a summer suit, with a pince nez, are sitting
on the verandah at a table with a samovár and coffee pot. Mary
Ivánovna Sarýntsova, Alexándra Ivánovna Kóhovtseva, and Peter
Semyónovich Kóhovtsev are drinking coffee, and the latter is
smoking.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. If you were not my sister, but a stranger, and
Nicholas Ivánovich not your husband, but merely an acquaintance, I
should think all this very original, and perhaps I might even encourage
him, J'aurais trouvé tout ça très gentil ;[1] but when I see that
your husband is playing the fool yes, simply playing the fool then I
can't help telling you what I think about it. And I shall tell your
husband, Nicholas, too. Je lui dirai son fait, ma chère. [2] I am not
afraid of anyone.

[1] I should have considered it all very pretty.

[2] I will tell him the plain fact, my dear.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. I don't feel the least bit hurt; don't I see it all
myself? but I don't think it so very important.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. No. You don't think so, but I tell you that, if you
let it go on, you will be beggared. Du train que cela va ... [3]

[3] At the rate things are going.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Come! Beggared indeed! Not with an income like
theirs.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But you never do know what you are saying, because
when you men begin playing the fool, il n'y a pas de raison que ça
finisse .[4] I am only saying that if I were in your place, I should not
allow it. J'aurais mis bon ordre à toutes ces lubies. [5] What does it
all mean? A husband, the head of a family, has no occupation, abandons
everything, gives everything away, et fait le généreux à droite et à
gauche ... Continue reading book >>